CPS dedicates solar complex

By Vicki Vaughan :
June 18, 2012
: Updated: June 18, 2012 9:23pm

Solar power advocate, 99 year old William Sinkin (right), is congratulated by CPS CEO Doyle Beneby, Mayor Julian Castro, and SAWS Chairman Berto Guerra following the ribbon cutting at the new 20 Mega-Watt Solar Farm named after Sinkins. The event took place Monday afternoon.

CPS Energy boosted its portfolio of renewable energy Monday when it dedicated a 19.8-megawatt solar complex on land dotted with sunflowers in South Bexar County.

The solar installation, located on about 200 acres west of the intersection of Interstate 37 and Loop 1604, features more than 83,000 photovoltaic solar panels, enough to power about 2,550 averaged-sized houses a year.

Mayor Julián Castro called the solar project an “exciting moment” in the city's push to diversify its electricity generation.

CPS has a 25-year agreement to buy power from the solar complex owned by California-based SunEdison. The company is one of five“new energy economy” partners with the utility as it seeks to attract investment, jobs and contributions to education.

CPS CEO Doyle Beneby said the utility will pay about 10 cents per kilowatt hour for power from the solar complex, a cost lower than the 15 cents per kilowatt hour that was anticipated about a year ago.

Beneby called opening of the solar complex a “landmark event.”

Robert Reichenberger, SunEdison's vice president of commercial solar, said the complex represents a $70 million investment.

Later this year, SunEdison will open a third solar farm in Somerset that will generate 10 megawatts of electricity, taking the company's total solar generation to almost 30 megawatts. A megawatt can power about 200 homes on a hot afternoon when air conditioners are running.

Also, as part of its agreement with CPS, SunEdison has opened a satellite office in San Antonio and awarded $160,000 in scholarships to UTSA and $140,000 to Alamo Colleges.

Officials capped Monday's ceremony with a surprise: The new solar complex is named the William R. Sinkin Centennial Solar Farms 1 and 2.

“I'm surprised and pleased,” said longtime solar advocate Bill Sinkin, 99, the founder of nonprofit Solar San Antonio, which advocates greater use of solar-generated electricity.

Most officials wore bow ties to dedicate the solar farm in recognition of Sinkin's sartorial signature.

The Sinkin Centennial solar complex brings CPS' solar generation to 34.2 megawatts, CPS officials said. CPS also receives power from the 14.4-megawatt Blue Wing Solar facility, which opened in 2010.

The solar total means CPS “is now leading the solar race with Austin. It's ahead by 4 megawatts,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of the Austin office of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.

SunEdison began construction on the solar complex in November, and about 175 workers were hired at construction's peak, while SunEdison will have about a dozen permanent employees, Reinchenberger said.